Safe, Easy and Stress-Free Way to Remove Paint from Hardware

Sometimes the best of us make the worst of mistakes. Mistakes like thinking its a good idea to glob paint over functioning hardware expecting it to last and look good. No beuno. I have to think that the previous homeowners did this with the best of intentions but alas, its time to say see ya to this hot mess. Feast your eyes on exhibit a:

Now that you’ve seen that majestic wonderfulness, let’s get to the down and dirty of how I’m tackling this project. For starters, I realized I needed a safe, easy, and stress-free way of going about this ’cause I was pregnant and ain’t nobody got time for harsh chemicals.

Upon watching an episode of my favorite Rehab Addict, my gal Nicole Curtis said she had used heat as a method of taking paint off of hardware. I (almost immediately…you know as fast as pregnant people move) drove myself to my closest “Savers” and bought a used Crock-Pot for seven doll hairs….yeah, only $7! Score.

I carefully removed all the hinges with a hand screwdriver and gave them a nice little Crock-Pot bath complete with water and dish soap, for an hour on high.

Once they were nice and toasty, I used a plastic putty knife/paint scraper to remove all the access paint. I used a mixture of a toothpick and a teeny-tiny screw driver to get all the extra gunk out of all the tiny crevices. Viola!

Next up, I used my favorite Krylon paint from Valu Home Centers to spray the hinges. Now they are as good as new and ready to be put back up onto the cabinets!

kitchen-cabinet-redo-krylon-haus2home-16

Since we were completely changing the color of the hardware from chrome to brushed rubbed bronze, we also changed the pulls as well. (We got them from Buffalo Restore for $1 each!!) Stay tuned for a full recap on how the rest of the project went down. Here’s a sneak preview…

Before: